There are 5 blue socks, 4 red socks and 3 green socks in Debu's wardrobe. He has to select 4 socks from this set. In how many ways can he do so? A. 245 B. 120 C. 495 D. 60 Solution and explanation pls?

Hey again ! We have 12 total socks. The guy must choose 4 whatever-color socks. (I'm curious why 4?!! =) ) it is combinatorics problem, since order does not matter. So, the formula for this problem is C=(Total!)/(n!(total-n)!), where n is the number of socks Debu must select. 12!/4!*8!=495. I hope i didn't mix smth up.

Thanks NikolayZ, OA is 495. Thanks for the explanation

If the socks of same color are considered different, then we can arrange in C(12,4) which comes out to be (C) 495 as said above. But if the socks of the same color are equivalent and hence we can not tell one color sock from another sock of the same color, then the total number of ways is much less. I am not sure how to do this part, but another blog said 14 without explanation.

BTG Scholarship winner....Congratz.

Regarding the number of DIFFERENT ways to get socks (e.g., one green sock is equivalent to another green sock), which is 14: The number of ways three naturals number add up to 4 are: 4+0+0, 3+1+0, 2+2+0, 2+1+1. Since now order matters, we have to count how many different ways three number add up to 4 including order: 4+0+0, three ways; 3+1+0, six ways; 2+2+0, three ways; 2+1+1, three ways. So, in total, it would be 15; but we have counted even the GGGG configurations, which is not possible. so the answer is 14 (Thanks JeffB!)